ideas going on. and you still need some humans in order to do it even electronically, and some of the brokerage houses. if you're one of the big houses you'll need a couple of guys in there even if it's electronic. charles: today it's all been keeping-- >> safety first. charles: keeping humans alive and safe. thanks a lot. a lot of people were watching, sandy, the san francisco giants winning the world series and second title in three years, beat the detroit tigers 4-3 and swept the series of the fourth time in the last nine years the world series has been a sweep. an amazing comebacks for the giants, down 3-1 against the cardinals in the previous series and won seven straight games, seven games in a row. and now, we have to show you this from the nfl yesterday guys. the new york football giants, they survived and they did survive barely against the dallas cowboys and bryant looked like a game winning touchdown and came down with the fingertips out of bounds barely, but you can see it on the replay and the giants went on to win,

and ten seconds left by the way when it happened. and giants win 29-24. well, there's still eight days until the election and what has become a very close race and it's taking an a back stage to the polls-- to the storm, rather, we will have the latest polls for you and the big question now, is romney losing momentum? we'll ask andrea about that and of course, we're following sandy throughout the program. stay right there. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good ople to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first daof work this last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. frotd ameritrade.

>> well, today's big storm on the east coast taking some attention away from the election and it's only eight days away. and both candidates are more focused on hurricane sandy. obviously, all of us across the country are concerned about the potential impact of hurricane sandy. this is a serious and big storm. charles: and also appears to be slowing town mitt romney's

momentum. the latest gallup has romney up 4 points, 50-46 down one point from the previous poll and the latest rasmussen poll has romney romney by 3. we'll get the new number from scott rasmussen shortly and the washington poll, romney with a 1 point lead for the third consecutive day and a lot of people are talking about the controversial ad featuring, actress lena dunham. >> and of anybody, we want to do it with a great guy, it should be with a guy with beautiful, who understands women. >> and andrea, what congresswoman marsha blackburn. a young actress voting for the essential october is offensive to me for millions of women and to the stature and the office you hold. andrea, obviously, those comments to president obama. >> i think she's right.

if you look at all of the attacks that the obama camp launched up until this point a lot of them have been classless, called mitt romney a liar, called him a felon and tried to paint him as evil. this, i think, looks to me more like a college campaign, something you see on the college being running for president of student body and not for president. this tells me, charles, one, they're desperate and they're losing women in a big way, you saw a 18 point after first debate. charles: the thing though, calling someone a liar, thief, unethical. that seems like politics. doesn't this cross the line that republicans wage a war on women. doesn't this cross the line, beyond bad taste and beyond the sophomoric antics, that someone crossed the line, the president or someone around them should have said, hell no, you can't put that on the air.

>> they need women voters and you think this is the way you get them and gets the attention and cute and funny, a lot of people did decide to make the decision to go with barack obama four years ago, it wasn't fun like a lot of if i remember times for a lot of people and a lot of people are regretting it for four years. charles: i'm not going to ask you about your first time, nicole. >> this ad is gross, i find it to be offensive to me, as well. like she said. and i have to think about this girl being hot for obama. and sex sells for cars, sex sells for alcohol, it doesn't sell for the president of the united states. that is a higher ground, it's about the economy, it is about foreign policy, it's about jobs. it is not about sex to me, i think it's gross. charles: maybe when it's said and done, guys, that will be the-- the campaign that there is no higher ground. and for all u.s. markets may be closed, but we're open for business on "varney & company," up after the break, the latest forecast on hurricane sandy.

how bad is this thing going to get and when can we expect the worst of it? that's next. are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? [ male announcer ] it's the question we a ourselves every day. is it the safest, the most efficient? the kind of vehicle to move not just people... but an industry forward? are we there yet? are we really? [ male announcer ] are we there yet? we are, for now. introducing the all-new seven passenger gl. motor trend's 2013 sport utility of the year. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

>> now, we've been tracking hurricane sandy all morning as it batters the east coast, and adrian from accuweather joins

us. and adrian, i want to start, asking where hurricane sandy is now and what can we expect for the worst. he well, i really think that the worst is going to be today into tomorrow. landfall is set to occur tonight along the jersey coast, probably central to southern jersey, but certainly going to be feeling the impact far away from the center of the storm. because it's just so huge. right now, sandy is a category 1 hurricane with 85 miles per hour, present movement north-northwest and it's started that left turn into the northeast at 20 miles per hour, so the storm is accelerating here and we're going to deal with heavy rain, and heavy rain right now from baltimore down the chesapeake toward the virginia beach area and some locations are picking up one to two inches of rain just in an hour's worth of time and not just the rain we're contending with, we've got snow across the appalachians and some spots here have picked up four inches of snow, and here we begin to see

it as the day wears on and the rain is also going to be a huge, huge problem for so many folks here, some folks here across the mason dixon line are going to pick up eight-plus inches of rain, a lot of flooding is going to occur and not only that, the high wind gusts, already gusting to 51 miles per hour at jfk and new york city, still going to see some more wind as the rest of the day goes through here, and some picking up gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour and the even surge is something else we're also concerned about. 10 to 15 foot surge expected from jersey up to new york city throughout tonight. charles: so, adrian, you know, everyone is saying that this is a unique storm, that we haven't seen one quite like this, you talked about the rain, the wind, the gusts, and is it because all of these are major components at the same time that makes it so unique or devastating storm? >> yeah, it is a very unique storm because of all of these things coming together and

actually i was talking to a fellow meteorologist earlier. we can't remember any sort of storm within, you know, the last hundred years that has had blizzard warnings with it. and we've got blizzard warnings in the appalachians of west virginia and that's something, certainly, that makes this storm very unique and exactly where it's tracking also makes it very unique, certainly, worst case scenario for a lot of locations in the mid atlantic and the northeast. >> you talk about the way it's tracking, and in new york, a trickle of rain and didn't feel like necessarily as ominous as i guess it does in other parts of the country except for how few people are on the streets. is there any chance, even the slimmest chance that it could change direction between now and the worst of it? is there a chance that maybe, it does another quick turn and goes back out into the ocean? >> it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. a left turn has already begun and like i said moving to the north-northwest now at 20 miles per hour and it does not look

like it's going to be changing track anytime soon. certainly going to be a big time problem here across the northeast the next couple of days. >> adrian green, thank you very much. we appreciate all the work you guys do. >> well, we've got eight days to go before the election and the latest from rasmussen. the latest daily tracking presidential tracking poll shows that governor romney has 49%, president obama 47%. scott rasmussen joins us now by phone. scott, the main question at this point it looks like this romney momentum has stalled? >> well, the race has been pretty stable, you know, governor romney had a good move after his first debate performance, took the lead nationally, made a lot of gains in some swing states and the race hasn't changed too much. it's very close with a slight edge to governor romney nationally and it may all come down to two states, ohio and wisconsin. charles: and speaking of which, those polls, you know, listen, over the weekend. you've got a lot of competition, and some of them i haven't heard

of before, but seem to be a zillion and one polls to give the information, how are you feeling about the two key swing states now? >> i think both are too close to call. if i had to guess i think wisconsin is a little better for the republicans and a little better for the democrats. when i ook at the polls that are out there, in ohio, the rate, the numbers range from very from even to a very slight obama lead, but in none of them, or in very few of them is the president over the 50% mark. so, it looks like, you know, he's maybe 47, 48, 49%, and that means neither side can feel very confident. in ohio, the president is clearly leading among the early voters, which is fairly typical. the governor romney, much more enthusiasm from those who plan to vote and you know, that's going to be, will he get votes and people to the polls. charles: before i let you go. this storm, hurricane sandy, is there any chance it could have

an impact on the outcome of next week's election? >> now, i guess in a close election, anything could have an impact, but i'm at the jersey shore, more concerned in the next 48 hours than i am a week from tomorrow. charles: i hear you, amen, brother, stay safe and we'll talk to you soon. >> all right. charles: don't forget the election day, the coverage we're going to have extra varney coverage, the first show is going to be here at normal 9:20 a.m., but then at 5 p.m. eastern, "varney & company" will be back for an election special you do not want to miss it. right now, we want to go to jennifer davis, she's watching sandy from norfolk, virginia and what are you seeing right now? >> hi, charles, tt rain is coming down more, keeping a close eye on the surf and you can tell why. it's ferocious churning things up out there and a tremendous amount of water up to the boardwalk here, and so far it's not crossed over the boardwalk, and still, there's great concern

with what's going to happen with all of this water. and this is an area that's turned to flooding here and you can see from the city officials driving by in a second, but you know, they're dealing with a lot of flooding here, and even some minor storms and the concern is, it's been raining there since mid day yesterday and supposed to continue throughout the day today. and what's going to happen with the water and where is it going to go. there aren't a lot of places and even yesterday, we saw intersections flooded and a woman who's basement she said had already flooded and this is a tremendous amount of water and keep in mind a few hundred miles from where the storm is going to make landfall and it gives you a sense of the scope and impact of sandy. >> jennifer, you know, we had impressive press conferences yesterday, and both new york governor cuomo and the new jersey governor chris christie, what are they saying in terms of the possible worst case scenario. what should you guys be bracing for. >>? the worst case scenario here to be intense flooding and that

would be farther inland in the norfolk area and they're just worried about roads washing out and what it might do to people's homes. and the power outage issue and up in the east coast, might not have power-- [inaudible] >> okay, that was jennifer davis. here is a shocking number. 61,194, what the senate budget committee says federal and local governments spend on welfare for every household in poverty on average. $61,000. company, and it's one of the major issues in the election, in a country where 9 million people dropped out of the work force, almost 50 million people are on food stamps, the idea that welfare costs $61,000, that's amazing number. >> it's one household and you look at that and say can you imagine? look, you listed off the different statistics out there. this is the biggest reason why,

i think, the president had a hard time convincing voters he's turned this economy around. i mean, poverty's rising sharply in his home state of illinois alone. it's a real tough message for him and we're in a record number of spending, so, you look the at the new thing, the problem is not getting fix. the ones getting the big generous pensions are the government workers and he's set up two classes in america, it's the politically connected and those in public offers, i think washington d.c. is one of the richest cities in the world and then, the have-notes are the ones who are out ever government. >> what about the critical view that you know, if you're a household and you know what's working and get the 61 brand or maybe keep the president in, i don't know. >> sure. >> and why give the guy that's pumping up the volume? >> for sure, if you're an entitlement nation or a believer in that, you are voting for this president again right away, because he is spending, this administration is spending, and more on these welfare programs than they are on social

security, on medicare, on national defense, and so, this poll sounds ectly that. and now that they've been spending 61,000, the amount they've spent is up 32 percent from 2008. basically say, here you go. it's not a way to provide incentives for people to get out and get jobs. on the contrary to provide incentives to get on the couch. >> it's seductive to give people the things, the problem in greece and now the problem with this administration, but charles, i think that was the calculus from the beginning, get more people beginning to receive a check and you saw this a couple of months ago, the wall street journal said half and half of people are getting a check from the government. they want people reliant. >> you know that phrase, don't bite the hand that feeds you, this is apropos. charles: and you hate to say it, and this is that 47% comment, i think this is what mitt romney was really trying to talk about at that particular point. a month ago, get a check in the

mailbox might be unlikely to change that vote. thanks, guys. want to get to sandy quick and check with anna kooiman, on long island, how are things looking out there? >> well, i know you've covered a lot of hurricanes growing up in north carolina and working there and i've never experienced one that's this cold and of course, this is being called the franken-storm because it's so late in the season and right around halloween. and even some snow expected. but we can tell you as far as transportation goes, the bridge is closed to all incoming traffic unless you're somebody like a first responder or media, and it's open for people going out, which is what they've asked everybody in the county to do in low lying areas and those under mandatory evacuations. we watched the city buses here in long beach went around on picking up people and shuttling

them to shelters and the red cross set up a few of those, and they have pet friendly buses and pet friendly shelters for people to do that. we're talking about an unprecedented storm and people who even have grown up here their entire lives and never seen before. and some people heeded have the warnings and many people have and some people haven't and decide today hunker down, but they remember when irene barreled through the northeast here last year, the atlantic ocean in some places even touching the bay. so, we're talking about 11 foot storm surge and 20 foot waves on top of that potentially and a nightmare and hitting us harder later in the day. back to you. charles: anna kooiman in long island. well, we saw the acts of desperation, stops of president obama pulling out the stops to get reelected and that'ssnext. we'll ask a democratic strategist in one of those acts of desperation, this ad, will actually work.

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>> a little bit of america related breaking news for you. two major publications the wall street journal and the new york times are taking down their pay walls so everyone can get the information on the hurricane and free until the weather emergency is over. and now, it's a part of mitt

romney's recent surge in the polls is how you close the gap among women voters and now the obama campaign is trying to win back women, especially young women with ads like this from actress leena dunham. >> it should be with a guy who is beautiful, someone who cares about and understands women, my first was-- it was awed aid i went to the polling station and pulled back the curtain for barack obama. >> and joining us mary anne marsh, i'm going to ask you, politics aside, as a woman, were you offended at all by the ad? >> look, i think i'm more offended by the bulk of this campaign. i think surprising to many. including many on your set having to talk about abortion, contraception, rape and when you consider how much time has been given to all of those topics,

this is no surprise. charles: a lot of the stuff you're talking about, maybe someone had an interview during a heated debate. this was something that was planned out and you've got to believe that the obama administration green lighted it. >> hold on, charles, those were gaffes in every single case that's what that person believed. only became a mistake when the backlash game and i know that andrea understands this having done campaigns as i do. and you have to know where voters are if you're not between 18 and 30, you don't get the ad. young voters are critical and many have not-- >> and you think this is a good ad? >> i think when you look at the fact, the ad it over 2 million hits on youtube where most of the young voters are-- >> some of the the vulgar things had millions of hits. is there no line, the office of the president of the united

states, does it even care anymore about certain things or just pure desperation at this point? >> and charles, when mitt romney is not telling the truth about chrysler going to china, there's a lot to talk about here. so, there's a lot that's going on in in campaign that's up for debate and everyone can say where the line is. i think a lot of lines have changed and through every campaign cycle, that's a disappointment. but when you look at young kids and voters who may be getting registered this week, today, they look at youtube, they watch it, and they that they need to get out and vote when they see it. >> mary anne, it's andrea. i get that this is a turnout game for the obama administration because they're losing independents in some polls double digits and can't run on their record or the economy, but don't you think that there's a chance that it can back fire. these kids also have parents, they have grandparents, and i mean, did you ever wish that maybe the campaign would have chose a different message instead of abortion, rape and the other things? >> well, as you know, andrea, every time that was in response

to what was said by largely middle aged male republicans. so, i think a the lot of people wish there had been a lot of other things discussed in this campaign, and even i am shocked and to the degree if you lie and repeat the lie it becomes the truth and those comments are directed largely at mitt romney especially about some things, chrysler came out and made the statement, we are not going to china. but that hasn't stopped him from repeating it and perhaps running an ad, and very disappointing. charles: mary anne, before i let you go, i want to take a little bit after different look at this. lena dunham popular to the show to girls on h.b.o., but when it came out, you know, one real very liberal watcher out there said that i love girls, but how come there's no black people except for-- and many times liberals don't seem to have a lot of respect for black people, you know, and you know, maybe this is how they try to get back to assuage their

guilt, i'll go out and do this vulgar ad for president obama even though when i had an opportunity to give us a chance to other people, besides rich white girls, i didn't do it. >> you know, i think the best ad of this campaign, the voice on it is morgan freemans, all the of those people in. charles: you missed the point completely. >> no, i've not. charles: and i went over this whole thing and we went over time. we've got to bring you back, because i just think that, you know, it's hypocritical, it's vulgar and i don'ttthink it's necessarily going to work. i think they're underestimating the america's youth. >> we'll see awe week from tomorrow. charles: with an ad about sex equating to voting and by the way, you look fantastic. i don't know what you did, with the hair or something, but you look fantastic. >> it the hurricane. charles: see you soon. time now, for your morning gold report and the gold obviously has been lately, but 17 half. 1712.80 up 90 cents. they say they're only two things

certain in life, death and taxes, and they're only going to get more expensive. that's next. 0t[h7

>> we all know about the fiscal cliff coming in january. less attention though is being paid to the death tax. if congress doesn't fix it, the estate tax is going to go up to

55% after the first million dollars. now right now it's 35% after the first 5 million dollars. guys, what do you make of this one? >> i mean, just don't die, everybody. i mean, this is really -- talk about you didn't build that. penalizing people who worked really hard to pass it down to their kids. i don't think people realize this is happening. congress has to do something about this. when you talk about this, it won't make any difference in our debt. just forget it. other countries have forgotten it. forget it. ccarles: it's not designed at all to help the country. thu at 10:00, the very latest -- new at 10:00, the very latest on the tracking of hurricane sandy and the conditions on the shore. we have team coverage that continues right after this. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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>> this is not the way a category 1 storm looks at this point of development. this is much more intense. i don't think it's going to be catastrophic in terms of the wind, but if you can see, these are difficult conditions that are only going to intensify, and as you know -- charles: that was our jeff flock checking from point pleasant beach new jersey in our last hour as hurricane sandy really starts to pound the shores of the eastern seaboard. we will check in with jeff in a minute and get you the latest forecast on sandy coming up.

joining me right now in studio to talk sandy and the election and everything else this hour elizabeth macdonald and david webb from tea party 365.com. now, we want to start this hour with the latest on hurricane sandy and how the government is handling it. we've got jeff flock. he's on the beach at the jersey shore. we also have rich edson in washington. jeff, we want to go to you first. things haven't gotten better? jeff: i will tell you, charles, you know, again, at this point, in the storm, you would expect to see some ebbing and flowing. it has been intense conditions, not catastrophic conditions but intense conditions and they have not let up. and i will tell you, the other thing about this, it's cold out here. cold may be too strong a word. but, you know, you're used to covering hurricanes or i'm used to covering hurricanes in tropical conditions. well, you know, you have heard this is not purely a tropical storm, and that's absolutely true. this is not purely tropical conditions. in fact it is making the

transition to what's more a cold core storm. it's not, you know, fed by just the hot sea surface temperatures. it actually has this other piece to it and it is cold out here. especially when you are standing in the wind like we are like this, and if i face directly into it, you can almost joke about the fact that i don't know if i get down on the ground, you know, the storm is called sandy. well, that's kind of what you are getting. you are getting a bit of a sandblasting here along the beach because we are getting it from north to south right in our face because of the rotation of the storm as it starts to get closer to us, we'll start to see more on shore wind, but right now we're getting it out of the north as the rotation continues, but the turn is being made. it's headed for us. charles: you know, jeff, we can see all the reasons they tell us that this is a very unique storm. once again,ly keep saying it -- i will keep saying it, be safe out this. thanks a lot. i want to go rich right now, even though there's not a lot

happening in washington weather wise, we do have some news on the president's schedule. rich: there was supposed to be a campaign event he was supposed to go tomorrow night in wisconsin. for the last day we have been looking at that saying it looks like the president won't make that one. now it is official, the white house announcing president obama will not travel to green bay wisconsin tomorrow for his campaign event. he's already changed his campaign schedule. today he was supposed to appear in orlando, florida. instead he decided to come back early. he's on his way back to washington, d.c. now to monitor the response here. so far really there's just looking at where this storm is going to hit, where the damage could be. fema has put water bottles, blankets, all up and down the east coast ready to be deployed once there's any damage. for right now, it is from the federal government wait and see where this is specifically going to hit. a number of different responses. department of defense saying they've also got national guard ready in case that's needed. it is coming back here and just seeing where it is going to hit

and how bad it is going to be. charles: thanks a lot. we know the u.s. equity markets are closed. here's a visual explanation as to why. you see the new york stock exchange is just blocks away from the new harbor, which right now is under a whole lot of water already this morning. we see the storm starting to surge over the water walls down there already. this is fresh video right now into fox business, but the commodities markets, well, they are trading because they trade in chicago and that's where sandra smith joins us for the cme. real big action in oil. sandra: i want to show you the trading floor down here because we're not shy of trading action or traders on the floor. you will see the euro dollar trading pit here filled with action, opened at 8:20 eastern time this morning. traders filing in. these are global markets. when you talk about the closure of the new york stock exchange, this is the largest derivativ derivatives -- derivatives exchange in the world right here in chicago. it is open for trading. if you want to get an idea where

trading sentiment would be in the stock market today, look at the futures. the dow s&p nasdaq futures are trading electronically right now. the pit trading will open in chicago a bit later. you will see that they are down, in fact flirting with some key levels. the dow futures flirting with the key 13,000 level. s&p futures flirting with 1400. but charles, energy trading is what everybody is watching right now. the nymex trading floor is closed, but electronically these things are trading. take a look at oil. oil is slipping right now. and this is as we do have refinery closures. we're getting an announcement -- just a second. charles: right. sandra: we're going to get an early closure here charles. they are making an announcement as we speak. guys, what do we hear? 11 o'clock we are getting an early close. this is breaking right now. 11:00 central time early close for?

interest rate futures, s&p 500 futures, all the cme futures are going to close at 11:00 a.m. central. charles: thank you very much sandra. we have to get back, the latest track of the storm from the fox news weather center. maria, we have to ask, we're really worried when an we expect sandy to make landfall? that's the big question. >> well, the big question is when is it going to make landfall? center of it to move ovee central parts in southern new jersey as we head into 8:00 p.m. tonight so these evening -- this evening so the conditions will linger throughout the overnight hours. sandy is such a large storm system that doesn't really matter. we're still going to be feeling the impacts for many many hours. some people will be dealing with tropical storm-like conditions for at least 48 hours. and even as the center doesn't move over your area, those hurricane-force -- hurricane force wind gusts do extend over 100 miles from the center of the storm system.

very heavy rain associated with the system. sandy is a massive storm spanning more than 800 miles from one end to the other. we have a some storm warnings in effect with the great lakes with waves as high as 25 feet for early tomorrow morning because of sandy. blizzard like conditions expected as we head into portions of west virginia. that snow is already coming down. 2 to 3 feet of snow possible out there. inland flooding, we do have flood watches posted as far as west as cleveland ohio that heavy rain already coming down across the d.c. baltimore area. most of maryland dealing with that heavy rain right now. and some of it does stretch into portions of southeastern pennsylvania. seeing the rain pick up across parts of long island. wind gusts already over 50 miles-per-hour across jfk. that center of the storm coming up tonight across central and southern new jersey. charles: marina thank you very much. -- maria thank you very much. now to the election, the recent poll shows that governor romney's momentum might be slowing down.

the latest washington post abc tracking poll of likely voters has romney leading president obama 49 to 48. joining us now is governor romney's policy director. governor romney's momentum obviously slowing down, maybe even starting to reverse. are you guys getting a little worried about that? >> well, good morning, charles. first of all, let me just say that our thoughts and prayers, governor romney, congressman ryan, our entire team are with those who may be affected by this storm. these polls are going to go up and down. we will see a lot of variation between now and election day. our campaign, we feel really good about where we're positioned. we feel like governor romney -- charles: let me jump in there -- if i were you i would be a little nervous. heck of a first debate. the two other debates went by. sort of like i'm a boxing fan, you guys had the president on the ropes now it looks like he's totally recovered. to your point it could go any way. whey do you feel so good? >> we always knew this was going

to be a close election. we feel really good about our ground game. we feel really good we're going to have a message on tv that's going to resonate -- resonate with voters. we feel good that romney and ryan are delivering a message that will resonate with the american people. liz: do you think you win ohio. >> we feel really good about ohio. obviously it is going to be competitive. a lot of stuff going on there, a lot of campaigning over the next week potentially, but we do feel good about ohio and we're hopeful there. charles: thank you very much. listen, we know it is going to be one heck of a brawl so we look forward to talking to you again. >> thank you. charles: illinois's massive debt is starting to cause severe cuts in services bridges roads even the education. the school system suffering mightily. this could just be the beginning. illinois's direct debt is now 58 billion dollars. joining us now is john tillman from the illinois policy institute. a lot of people reacting to the illinois report. the report of the state budget

crisis task force, a big-time report, and the thing is for me, it's all the reasons why this so, you know, there's so many problems. it's not just one thing. we're talking about the budget process, underfunded retirement benefits, medicare spending, law and practices hindering fiscal responsibility and stability. it goes on and on. it seems like you are on a collision course. >> it would be irresponsible of the people of illinois to ask the other 49 states to bail us out for the spending we have been doing for decades. this is a spending driven crisis. we have structural overspending that is unsustainable. the best way to illustrate this is in 2000 we had about 1.5 million people on medicaid. we now have 3.1 million people on medicaid. that's 104% growth. while we've expanded it to a middle class entitlement.

that's just unaffordable. the bottom line though is the real core problem is pensions and unfunded pensions and the pension debt that the state is paying. it is crowding out core services as you referred to charles in education healthcare spending and everywhere else. the only way out of this problem is to reform spending starting with pensions for public employees. liz: i have corporate accounting and government accounting too and boy the too are so alike in many ways. i'm reading analyst reports, john, that illinois is -- it's entitled state of denial. its accounting is just as bad as enron. the problem, john, this is what kills me, this is why it hurts voters, these guys across the country have been using off balance sheet pension funds to plug balance sheet holes, and at the same time they are trying to hit up taxpayers and then raise retirement ages. i don't think the american voter or the viewer gets it, that that's what's going on in illinois is a miniature portrait of the problems going across governments state and federal,

john? >> elizabeth, that's exactly right. in the government sector they create rules allow them to do this. in the private sector executives would be going to jail for some of the gimmicks that goes on in our budget progress cess. -- budget process. we have gone from having a few million dollars at end of fiscal year in past due debt to 8 billion dollars and they roll that over year after year making the vendors that provide services to the state of illinois -- charles: i guess it all boils down to, instead of going to jail, most of them will get re-elected until it comes crashing down. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thanks charles. charles: the federal government is shut down today and even president obama himself said that states being hit by sandy won't have to deal with red tape to get federal aid. so do we even need the federal government for natural disasters like this one? the judge is next. look, if you have copd like me,

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spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sou) ask your doctor about spiriva. charles: the big story today, hurricane sandy. the latest report says it will make landfall in southern new jersey later tonight. some places flooded already and this is only the beginning, and it will make landfall in new jersey, the storm is so big, it will hit airways across the entire coast -- areas across the entire east coast and into the midwest. as a result almost everything is closed today, the government and the market. no stock trading today. the cme is open but will close

early as well. gold is trading flat so far. oil also trading falling swrus a little bit -- just a little bit $86 a barrel. that's why a sharp drop in the gas price continues. national average is down to $3.54 a gallon, according to triple a, down 24 cents in the last month. we will be back in 90 seconds with the judge and the federal government fema do we need them? should they be involved? you don't want to miss it. bob...

oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hr looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. charles: you want to get back to

sandra smith for more on the news she broke for us a few moments ago. sandra? sandra: i'm running charles. you guys have the camera on me? can you hear me? charles: i can hear you. i can hear you. sandra: you will see me coming down the stairs here because we're running with the breaking news. here's the very latest on this, is that the cme has just made an announcement that all interest rate products will be closed including this pit, this is the euro dollar trading pit one of the first to open here this morning, but this includes the treasury markets, the euro dollar, the fed fund futures markets, all be closing at 11:00 a.m. central time. that's noon eastern time, both pit trading and electronic trading. as i gather my breath here, also important to point out that stock index futures will be closed the remainder of the day. not only on globe-ex, the electronic trading but also pit trading. there will be no trading. stock index futures. no announcement yet regarding the grains marketses and the energy markets which have been trading electronically today. out of breath, charles, but we will continue to update our

viewers on that. that's obviously key considering charles we have refinery closures along the coast. that's been spiking rbob gasoline prices, those closures there and leading to a sell-off in oil. we will continue to update. charles: catch your breath. it's a good thing you are an athlete because i'd still be at the first set of stairs. [laughter] charles: we'd have to go to commercial and come back and say okay now we have charles with the news. thanks sandra. the federal government they are off today. do you guys miss them really? does anyone miss them? even president obama he says that states should handle all of this stuff themselves. take a listen. >> my message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there. and we're going to cut through red tape. we're not going to get bogged-down with a lot of rules. charles: and listen to new jersey governor chris christie. >> it's been one of our priorities to give these communities hit hard by the flooding the accessibility to

act. act first. this is one of those times that uses one of my favorite sayings, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. all right? [applause] charles: all rise judge andrew napolitano is here. they were posing questions to governor christie. somebody tried to sort of hit him like are you saying ignore environmental things, you know, that kind of stuff. you know common sense christie saying do the right thing, let's save lives and be smart and forget about all these rules. >> it is an interesting statement he made and an interesting juxtaposition you just showed. you have governor christie on the right of the political spectrum -- spectrum. you have the president on the left of the political spectrum, they are both saying forget the red tape, do what you need to do to save lives. which is probably what most people would do. the press conference, which i watched, was in front of government officials.

they were applauding him when he said forget about the d.e.p., which is department of environmental protection in new jersey which is about as scrutinizing as the kgb was in the old soviet union. charles: this is the question then, do we need these -- the federal government to really be butting in? do we need fema? do we need this sort of overarching -- the federal government coming in when -- should states really take the bulk of this -- >> i will make a couple of observations, economic, political, constitutional. economic it is rather obvious. atlantic city shuts down loses a fortune. the stock exchange is shut down, loses a fortune. close the federal government, save money because the government wastes money when people come to work. that's the economic argument. the political argument is very interesting because mitt romney said in the republican primaries when he was appealing to a more conservative audience, than the general electorate, he would

abolish fema. he was asked last week if he would abolish fema, he didn't answer directly, but his campaign said we stand by what we said on fema. constitutionally, and i know it is tough to say this in the face of people losing their properties and their lives in danger because of a storm, nowhere is fema justified. nowhere is the federal government authorized to take control of the local government and bring federal resources in and tell the local government how to spend them. charles: judge, you are looking great, man. >> oh, thank you. charles: of course we love it that you made it in. >> always a pleasure. charles: thanks a lot. >> thank you. charles: well guys this is not necessarily a man bites dog but california is going broke. businesses are fleeing the state in droves, but despite all of this, californians well they still vote overwhelmingly democrat. in fact mike reagan is thinking of leaving the state and moving in with stuart. take a listen. [laughter] stuart: does president obama win california by 10 points or 15

points? >> 20. [laughter] stuart: there's still room in my house for you in new jersey. okay? >> see you on the 7th. [laughter] charles: does a republican have a chance of winning the formerly golden state? after the break republican california senate candidate is going to make her case. [ engine revving ]

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charles: we continue to track hurricane sandy as it makes its way up the east coast. jennifer davis is in norfolk, virginia. jennifer, norfolk officials have closed the floodgates and opened shelters. what's the weather like there? >> you know, i think the big story here right now is the rain. the winds really aren't much to contend with at this moment. although they have been strong earlier in the day, but it's just this unrelenting rain. it's not going anywhere. and it's been coming down since yesterday midday. i think the surf is another big issue as well. you can see we have a few sight sighers up on a mound of -- sight seers up on a mound of sand there. this size surf is really unusual -- unusual, those are tremendous waves. the water and sea foam being pushed up to the board walk here is not something you typically

see here. the concern is what's going to happen to all this water? there are a lot of low-lying areas that flood easily. at this point we are approaching 24 hours of non-stop rain. there's concern about what that's going to do to this area. charles: be safe out there. jennifer, thank you very much. we have a couple quick pieces of breaking news for you on hurricane sandy. the state of connecticut is closing highways as of 1:00 p.m. eastern today. that's all state highways closed in connecticut as of 1:00 p.m. also the long island power authority is reporting a 19,000 power outages already. that's 19,000 outages in long island, new york, and we haven't even had begun to have the brunt of this storm just yet. everyone pay attention to all of this news. california in the meantime, well they are going broke and things don't seem to be getting any better any time soon. new jersey governor chris christie in fact criticized california governor jerry brown and democrats at the rnc in august. take a listen. >> jerry brown, jerry brown, i

mean, he won the new jersey presidential primary over jimmy carter when i was 14 years old. [laughter] charles: all right, that's a lot of time to get things wrong. republican candidate for u.s. senate in california is joining us now. you know, a lot of people here, the republican challenger, and they say wow we're going to see a glutton for punishment. elizabeth, listen, you know, obviously you face a real uphill battle. why is it, though? why is it that way? how come california which just has devastating ugly economic data and the trends have been so awful for years, why is it still so hard for republicans to get people to realize this and stop it? >> well, good morning, charles. well, first of all, you know, governor christie also said california, don't give up on your state. and i don't think it's going to be quite as bad as michael reagan was saying. i actually think we're turning

things around in california. here's the reality, right now 70% of californians finally recognize that we're on the wrong track. took long enough. but we're finally -- they are finally waking up. it turns out if your state is the object of ridicule on every late night comedy show, you start to think maybe we need some new leadership in california. >> you know, part of the problem we have in california is no matter what you want to do with them, the people turn around and vote for their entitlements or their givebacks. 92 billion dollars budget. 16 billion in the hole. and how do you reverse that when you've got entrenched politicians who don't feel they need to be challenged? i followed your attempt to debate them. and it is simply not going to work because they don't have to. >> well, and really, that's i think resonating right now. when you have a long-term entrenched incumbent, to your point, like dianne feinstein who is the only sitting u.s. senator who will not debate, she's not -- it is not only that she won't debate me.

she won't do town halls. she won't go out and, you know, mingle with the folks, if you will. she will only really talk to the very upper echelon of business, and this is not setting well with the people of california, from both parties. i have had a lot of people come up to me and say, we've never even seen dianne feinstein in our city in the last 20 years. you know, she is polling at the worst numbers of her career, 48%, with over 20% undecided. charles: well, elizabeth we like you lot. we watch you here. we admire you. just good luck. again, at some point california better wake up and smell the coffee because things are not -- you know, everyone knows it, and that's what makes all this just so much more hard to fathom. we will have to let you go. >> please check out our website. our virtual debate, one way or

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charles: more breaking news, new york governor andrew cuomo announcing brooklyn battery tunnel from brooklyn to lower manhattan and the holland tunnel from new jersey to lower manhattan will be closed today at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. we are listening, we will bring you many headlines as they come up. jeff flock continues to keep an eye on the storm for us. what is hurricane sandy doing right now? speakers continues to get worse along the south jersey shore. they bumped the track further to the south but that just means we continue to be in that upper quadrant of the storm. typically the strongest turning into the wind right now. the kind of windup with the sand in your teeth. i will point out right now we

are closer to the low tide than high tide. about 6:55 this morning at mount pleasant. low tide is at 1:00. that will be the best it will be, and then on this evening closer to seven or eight when the storm is coming in, that is when we will get the high tide, that is the big danger point along the south jersey shore. charles: thanks a lot, jeff. we talked a lot about the youth vote in this program. trying to understand why some people vote so heavily for the president. >> i will give you 30 seconds on why new graduates should vote for president obama. >> how can they not vote for president obama? charles: that is a young obama supporter. >> the younger generations look at certain issues and say i support gay marriage but have to support the president that we

are not balancing our budget, we have to balance our budget, the younger generation would vote on the social side and the fiscal side. we have to make them understand the fiscal issues. charles: joining us now, paul, welcome back to the show. this notion young people automatically are so enthralled, so excited about the president and automatically give their vote away to democrats despite their own economic conditions and circumstance. why doesn't that seem to change even though the numbers seem to have gotten worse in the last four years for the young people? >> there are three surveys that came out in late august that are important. "the new york times," the service employees international union poll had the president 49% with young people. but only 41%. the other head 49% for the president and mitt romney 41%.

the swing vote about 5%. when you talk about college students, they may skew a little more towards the president of the demographic has young professionals, parents and those who are noncollege in addition to college students so the real news is in 2008 president at 66% of those votes, right now 53%. that is the largest drop according to gallup any incumbent president has had with an age demographic, especially young voters. >> where this also goes to, you have the change for the youth and on employment rate. the unemployment rate if you graduated when the president was voted in or even since then continues to rise among young people. they talk about young families, they have seen no or little upward mobility in their future and they look at their pocketbooks.

as far as the younger people, one of the issues is the republicans have not bee done as good of a job explaining the fiscal message. not about next year or your next credit card bill, it is the next five to 10 years of your life and that gets you into your late 20s and early 30s. >> you are exactly right. look at the all 18-29-year-olds, 76% of them indicate they believe the laak of full-time jobs is shrinking. that is a key driver going into ohio and colorado. ohio alone, 5.6 million people vote in 2008. of that number, over 600,000 are young voters. 553,000 use that number. the final seven days a lot of those folks trying to decide on debt, health car health care anr issues put forward. the most important issue our full-time jobs. the role of get out and vote,

overwhelmingly young adults think facebook messaging, 59% think it is more effective than phone calls which a lot of people are still doing at 18%. charles: on the other score it is good young people coming around to understand all the ideology when you're younger is fantastic but the economy is being hit. some stunning numbers from you. we will see you soon. news coming in a hurricane sandy by the minute. and we're a state away from the election. president obama and mitt romney in a virtual dead heat. the question, has the governor lost his momentum? coming up next.

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serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. charles: entire east coast is getting ready for hurricane sandy. two tunnels will be closed in the state of connecticut closing all three highways this afternoon. the storm will make landfall in new jersey later tonight but we're already getting reports of flooding and power outages in the worst hasn't even started yet. this is a huge storm hitting the entire east coast and midwest will feel an impact. the new york stock exchange is closed. the cme in chicago going for bust. oil is trading slightly lower around $86 per barrel, the big story gasoline prices down $3.54

per gallon at the national average down $0.24 in the last month. this storm, is it hurting mitt romney's momentum? we will discuss it. it's the little things in life that make me smile. spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat.

so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. charles: we are eight days for the presidential election and the momentum appears to have stalled for governor romney. in an economy from west palm beach florida, atomic research group. greg, i feel like governor

romney is the first debate had a major momentum and maybe squandered a couple of opportunities in the second and third debate bringing us to where we are right now. >> it may have slowed his momentum but these gains have not been reversed. i would say coming out of denver he basically made this a tight race and i'm beginning to suspect, charles, this election could turn out with mitt romney winning the popular vote but losing the electoral college. that is not out of the question. charles: having said that, another scenario could be a have read about a dead heat. he loses ohio but wins virginia, this seems like an endless possible day of outcomes right now and even the experts are having a really hard time trying to figure this out. >> tell me about it. they could have a story where we don't know the winner on wednesday morning a week from now, it could be several days of

recounts. for the country don't think it't is good to have an outcome that will be that model. speak let's talk about hurricane sandy. democrats would benefited from getting the word out early. how do you see hurricane sandy affecting the turnout of early voting right now? >> it could affect it a bit, but the big story from the hurricane is leadership or lack thereof. i think they were really excellent criticizing the failure of leadership on the part of obama. he will be with chris christie, a lot of state and local officials.

charles: one of the great assets is the ground game, getting a lot of people, union members and the like out pounding the pavement but it is all flooded, maybe that takes away from the day gettinticket in the other p. >> we will see where the floods are really impactful. we are still talking about an election that is a week away. i would be more concerned about a lack of power in the northea northeast, that could affect the election in some way. but again that gives obama's leadership and that is a quality he really has been lacking. charles: this is an exciting one. we will talk to you really soon. thanks. hitting rock with sean penn. two people on opposite sides of the spectrum. why would they team up to make a film like this? ♪ follow the wings.

charles: move over, we have an odd couple for the new generation. sean penn and kid rock getting together to shoot a short film. watch this clip.

♪ charles: okay. you are all over this. >> i love kid rock. it is good they are trying to resolve their political differences. kid rock isaac green car, but sean penn only goes so far to where a nascar t-shirt. i like to see sean penn say hugo chavez was wrong.

and to say he was wrong going on cnn with piers morgan. you will really embrace compromise. i would like to see those. >> this was all publicity, and i get it. kid rock is the winner. it is because he reflects what americans are thinking. looking at the sean penn that goes down and supports a socialist dictator and makes his money off of capitalism. free speech, this is what it is about. >> it opens up sean penn to criticism. the socialist millionaire hanging out. charles: there are times when they literally make me sick to my stomach because i feel like they are traitors to this country. >> i talk a lot of hollywood guys and i had a couple of them on last week, sean penn is still upset about his father being

blacklisted. that is what some of the people tell me who know me. and his choices, anti-american behavior just doesn't make sense. charles: the notion of a more civil tone within the discourse could be the overarching message. >> it is a funny start. charles: you're right about kid rock saying a lot of things the majority of americans, but i would not put the deer on the front. that was weird. the highlight reel is next.

charles: we have some breaking news. think about this. the labor department saying they have not made a decision on whether to delay friday's jobs report. that is huge.

the next number will be revised higher. there is no way that number was real. what if all this economic data is pushed past the election. >> that is exceedingly rare for the labor department to delay or even discussed delaying it. talking about how hurricane sandy may lower gdp which is already getting along at 2%. we could go into negative territory. they are saying sizable negative impact from hurricane sandy. watch out for that. >> plus, what this could do to consumer confidence. the confidence index, this could really affect it. playing with this politically, bad for the obama administration. there is already a trust factor.

charles: you also have the media, which i am telling you, listen, everyone knows the 7.8% number is a phony number anyway. having said that, imagine if they said, listen, we do not have all the states in, but what we do have is 8%. >> you cannot tell that they are unemployed or underemployed and they are voting -- >> people look at the full unemployment rate also. charles: some people do. guys, you were fantastic. listen, that will be something that really is special. in the meantime, we have dagen mcdowell and connell mcshane taking it from here. dagen: we have breaking news where we are right now as hurricane sandy